The BBC reviews the Raspberry Pi. "The device may inspire a new generation of computer programmers or it could leave children used to smartphones and tablet computers baffled and bewildered. A great experiment with the way we teach computing has begun and we can't be sure how it will end." Mine's coming the week of May 21.

It would be possible to create an "instant on" experience with something like the Pi. It is cheap and soon it will be freely available. Having a standard piece of hardware to program to allows people to get innovative with their solutions.

Point is that this is the start of something really, really awesome. The Pi will do for general computing what Arduino did for micro-controllers. Is it "best of class"? No, but it doesn't have to be. It has a strong following and that is all it will take.

The Pi has all the potential to become the next Commodore 64 (fixed hardware, just waiting for the software to be written). If not it, then something directly inspired by it.

A few years ago there was the Commodore 64 DTV, which was a Commodore 64 crammed in to a joystick and with a number of build in games.

It could be hacked to attach a real C64 keyboard and even a disk drive to it. It seems to me the possibilities with the Pi are even greater.

I just hoped it doesn't become too much of a success, causing "everybody" to come with their own Pi product and fragmenting the market with a whole bunch of these devices, all cheap, all different.

The C64 had a 10 year run and each time programmers kept pushing the boundaries and make it do stuff people never imagined it could do. There is no need to push the Pi if in a few months the Pi2 is announced and other companies come with their own Pi, with better specs.

What I am hoping for is that inexpensive alternatives to other computing components will follow suit. How about a touch enabled LCD screen for $50 (or less)? They have an Arduino-like device in the works for the Pi that should open up another whole world of expansive opportunities. Or a any number of other typically expensive add-ons that could all now find a new price point.

In my mind, it's a bit too early to choose a winner and stop the forward motion. Maybe next year we will have a dual-core Pi for $35, who knows? In my mind that won't be a bad thing.